Housing
Against a backdrop of poverty, underinvestment in basic infrastructure and contested land development, housing provision is lacking in African cities. In the absence of state support and affordable market opportunities, many households – including those in the middle classes – find housing in the informal sector, with associated insecurities.
As well as providing safety, security and access to essential basic services, housing also gives urban residents access to labour markets, a legal address and even a site for household economic activities. For city and national governments, housing construction is an important source of enterprise activity and employment. The cost, availability and suitability of urban housing options are influenced by multiple formal and informal systems, with a wide range of actors involved.
ACRC will examine the connections between these various systems and actors, along with other pertinent issues – including mass housing programmes versus incremental development, affordable housing, subsidies and environmentally friendly building materials – and how these intersect with other urban development domains.
LATEST NEWS from ACRC

Water, water, everywhere: Challenges and opportunities for inclusive water delivery in Lagos
Potable water is a luxury good in Lagos – a city with so many ambient water sources that planning around them has yielded a rather quirky layout. The enduring, seemingly intractable challenge for the city is how to convert this abundant natural resource into safe drinking water for residents.

Learning from the ground: Action research in Nairobi’s informal settlements
What does research in informal settlements in Nairobi look like? This was the guiding question for a recent learning writeshop that brought together action research (AR) teams working across Nairobi’s informal settlements.

Resilient urban markets: Surprises from Ggaba Market fieldwork in Kampala
The Kampala action research project on inclusive markets and resilient communities in Ggaba Market seeks to tackle the interlinked issues of flooding, waste management and sanitation in urban markets.